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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: Lemars on Sunday 07 January 07 12:21 GMT (UK)
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Yesterday I inadvertently deleted 4 years of work - and found my backup hadn't worked. I've had help to try to retrieve it, but it's not possible. Whilst sobbing at the need to input all that data ( and do the paper-search it will require)........................
I need a new FH software package - and the searches I've done for reviews online are lengthy and not very satisfactory.
I'd like to improve on features which were frustrating in the old software I used - like charts which print out on less than 36 A4 pages etc. I like the "book" options in some of the reviews I've read.
My question is - has anyone any strong opinions about any of the software they use, such as Legacy, Family Historian, Family Tree Maker etc ?
I'd like to know before I make a purchase and waste time inputting all over again.
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Welcome to Rootchat!
Sorry about your problem - hope you manage to sort it all out.
We have discussed the various software packages in the past - try here
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,158637.0.html
I hope it helps. If not, do ask again!
meles
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Thank you SO much, Meles. That's exactly what I needed and now I'm off to do a LOT of reading (and some more sobbing - in 22 years of computer ownership, this is the first time I've done anything so incredibly STUPID and I'm sure there will be a lot of my questions answered in there !!
Thank you for being so very prompt with a reply too - you clearly recognise desperation when you read it............
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Hi Lemars
YOU MAY NOT HAVE LOST YOUR DATA
There are ways and means of recovering deleted data. Unless you have physically overwritten the data that was on disk or your hard drive is physically damaged then it is probably still there. There is plenty of free software that can recover lost data so try some of the free UNDELETE programs before giving up.
Try this site:
http://www.freebyte.com/filediskutils/
and scroll down to Free Data Recovery Tools.
Good luck
downside
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Thank you Downside
I actually called in a technician before doing ANYthing with the computer and he ( after at least an hour of trying - he's quite a Rotweiller) diagnosed complete overwrite by the programme itself.
Therefore it wasn't recoverable.
I'm going to look at that site you've sent anyway - might well be useful if I manage to make such a complete ****** up of anything again.
Thanks again
(I'm trying to be positive and telling myself how much I'm learning as a result of all this - and finding our how many kind people there are using Rootschat)
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I use Legacy Deluxe and I think its a great program. As you are probably aware the basic program is free
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Hi Lemars
There is always PAF (Personal Ancestry File) from the LDS.
As it is free you have nothing to lose by trying it out. It has a lot of useful features such as printing a book-style report. However, you will need to obtain their color chart printing software which as an add-on package. Details from: http://www.familysearch.org/ and scroll down the yellow column at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
Also note that you can create a website with this software, which is useful for storing your data offsite. That way you do not need to worry about whether your backups work in future.
downside
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Thank you Downside
I've been sitting here ALL DAY trying to get up to scratch with all this. I suppose it's not something you do until you have to - and I'd only ever used that one software programme before.
I now have a "to do" list about a mile long and looking into that PAF is one of them.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I'm really grateful to everyone for their help
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I have just read this and am going to do a backup now but A lot of information i keep online eg the tree so if disaster struck should not lose to much when i first started i use to keep a paper copy of everything but this takes up to much room
Jim
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Hello Lemars,
I have both Legacy and PAF on my computer and like then for different reasons.
I find Legacy is easier to work with entering new people and it gives a facility (tagging) for separating out lines so you can easily send a new cousin who contacts you the details pertaining to their family.
PAF has filters but they don't work nearly as well as the Legacy tagging.
Both allow you to create web sites on your pc which you can then upload to say Rootschat.
Both allow you to create gedcoms for sharing with other people
In each case I find the selection process slightly easier with Legacy
Both allow you to search for people on the web. Click on the person in your tree then go to search on web in the menu.
PAF sends you to FamilySearch web site, Legacy Deluxe (purchased) gives you the choice of 8 places to search at once, including Family search. My sister who is the wizard at finding relatives and ancestors swears by the Legacy search possibilities.
Hmm, I've just done a search using both methods and I have found an ancestor in the 1861 English census with most data matching what we already knew so probably him. Legacy search came up with the goods while PAF didn't even offer the 1861 census. I'm siding with my sister already!
The free Legacy still gives good tree making, reports etc.
I put a tree in PGV which needs Gedcoms and here Legacy has a little bug so some families are not properly linked. All I do is put the ged into PAF and create another ged from there. Hey presto, all links work.
Click on my globe to get through to the links to my trees and have a look at the Legacy pages I do have up (and the PGV ones as well) to see if you like the look of them
cheers falcybe
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Thank you Falcybe
That's the sort of thing I'm looking for.
I've retreived most of the info from paper files now (oh - the hours I've spent and done very little else) and loaded them into PAF while I decide what to do about a software purchase.
Your info was very useful - from the internet adverts I got the impression that Legacy was VERY USA orientated. Your mail has sparked off my interest again - thank you for that.
C
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Hello Lemars, I came across this comparison page the other day on
http://www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/compare.htm
It seems to have some of the main ones on there, should be useful to others too!
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And another comparison site here:
http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
NB This assesses family historian 2.x, not 3.0 or 3.1 - Version 3 does do web pages.
JULIAN
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Thank you Julian and MarkyP - I'm off to check them out right now.
C